


We Are For Each Other

by banquos_ghost



Series: Mad About The Boy [12]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst and Porn, Blow Jobs, Canon-Typical Violence, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Feels, Game Spoilers, Porn With Plot, Smut, Swearing, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 05:18:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8043961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/banquos_ghost/pseuds/banquos_ghost
Summary: The Institute attack. Nora and MacCready seek diversion and resolution in each other.  "...she'd never held a human soul so close to her own before. Despite her best efforts at self-sabotage he was still in her corner. "





	1. Home Truths

**Author's Note:**

> Follows straight on from part 11, chronologically.
> 
>  _Can you picture what will be_  
>  _So limitless and free_  
>  _Desperately in need of some stranger's hand_  
>  _In a desperate land_  
>  'The End' by The Doors

The short walk from Greygarden Homestead was conducted in silence. Nora and MacCready were too shell shocked to talk about betraying the Institute. Once they arrived at Greygarden they took up residence for the night in the little hut set up for visitors. This place would suit only the most basic of needs, but was at least private and peaceful. Nora flopped onto the bed with a sigh. Feeling numb. MacCready removed his hat and placed his rifle down. Unbuckled his bandolier and sat down in a chair to unlace his boots and remove the rows of bullets festooned around his thigh. 

The room was silent for a while, the only noises the clinking of MacCready's paraphernalia and the rustle of Nora smoothing the bed covers into a semblance of order. MacCready spoke first, his voice strangely loud in the quiet, charged atmosphere 'So... Are we cool? Are you okay?' 

'Of course I'm not fucking okay.' Nora leapt for the hook of MacCready's question like a starving fish, wanting to argue, to fight, to break the tension. 'I just betrayed my son. Murdered a man in cold blood. A scientist. Not a raider. Not a feral ghoul... a fucking scientist. So, no I'm not OK. Oh, and now I've severed all links with my son. So yeah, I've had better days at the office. _Thanks for asking._ '

'Nora you did what you had to do. You can't blame yourself. They were going to kidnap Wallace if we hadn't stepped in.' MacCready's tone was placatory, though he knew his words were doomed to fall on deaf ears.

'Cold blooded murders and you just excuse them away? I realise it's all in a day's work for a _mercenary_.' Nora made it sound like a rude word. 'Shaun's my son. And now he's my enemy.'

'He's getting what's coming to him.' MacCready was calm, matter-of-fact.

'How can you say that? You just dumped your son. Cut and run when the going got tough. _You abandoned him_. Shaun was _stolen_ from me...'

Nora's razor sharp words filled the air at Graygarden. Words she unleashed on a sleeping world that could never be retracted. Yet still she continued, though MacCready had fallen ominously silent and was bent over his boots, still picking at the laces. No visible reaction to the insults spilling from Nora's mouth.

'I even asked if we could go and live with Duncan in the Capital Wasteland; you said 'no'. _You said NO_. What a _caring_ father you are.... You have no fucking idea Mac. No idea what I'm feeling so don't even start with your bullshit.' 

Nora couldn't stop, more jagged words. Barbed words, cutting words. Feelings of dread washed over her. She felt Shaun's ill will descending like a huge shadow stretching over the land, sending the Commonwealth into darkness. The feeling was so uncomfortable, she tried to keep it at bay by lashing out at MacCready instead.

'You're a joke MacCready. A fucking joke only the joke isn't funny anymore.'

Unforgivable. Yet she knew he'd forgive. Because he always did. He was just staring at her now bemused, tolerant. _Smug fucking bastard._ Everything was coming up MacCready like it always did. All he had to do was exist. She was the one, the chosen one. Never asked for any of this shit. The one person she loved sitting in front of her and every thing was all his fault. Everything. Why did he have to come after her when he'd stabbed her in the back at Mass Pike Interchange? It would have been better for everyone if he'd gone back to the Third Rail and stayed there. Got clients, got the cure for Duncan and gone the fuck home. If he had done the sensible thing she'd have forgotten her stupid crush on him and got on with her life. Instead he was an unlikely good angel on her shoulder. Her conscience and her undoing. If it wasn't for him she'd still be sitting pretty at the Institute. Still the words wouldn't stop, 'What everyone so quickly forgets is he's _my son_ , Mac. The only thing that kept me going when I left the vault. The only thing left from before the war, before this living hell. And life wouldn't even let me have that.'

'You got me...' MacCready had somehow managed not to lose his temper at Nora's outburst.

Nora shrugged, about as receptive as a pre-war TV set. 

'Maybe we could have a baby of our own?' MacCready smiled tentatively, offering his olive branch. An awkward pause. 'Someday...' he tried to fill the silence, qualify his reasoning.

'Oh Mac... You really don't get it. _You do know how babies are made, don't you?_ Haven't you ever wondered why nothing's happened all these months we've been intimate. I can't have another baby. Something in the cryogenics must have screwed with my ovaries. I've never even had a period since I left the vault and I've counted that as a blessing. The last thing I need is to bring a baby into this fucked up world. _With you._ ' 

MacCready recoiled, at the insult and the revelation. It seemed so obvious now she mentioned it. He'd just assumed that she'd taken care of 'that side of things'. How could he have been so stupid? He should have at least asked about the situation. 

'So you see I'm a failure in every way. I can't give you what you want. Ever. Why are you even still here? What's the angle? What's in it for R. J. MacCready? Because the bottom-line is there's always something in it for you, so come on, you may as well tell me - what's in it for you?' 

'I'm starting to wonder myself...' MacCready regretted saying it as soon as the words left his mouth. Sarcasm his default reaction. Unthinking. A defensive reflex. 

'I, oh, I'm sorry Nora it doesn't matter. I don't care. I only mentioned a baby because I thought that's what you wanted . What we wanted... eventually.' 

'Well, the doctors at the Institute may have been able to help. But it's too late now.'

'Oh god Nora I'm sorry... I didn't know...'

'Well as you so consistently point out it's not about me...'

'But it is Nora. It is about you. Can't you see that... It's only ever been about you.' Mumbling. Toying with the laces on his boots. 

Nora's eyes scanned MacCready's face. He had finally kicked his boots off and raised his head to look her full in the face. She had never seen such a tender and unguarded expression on it before. His blue eyes shone with unshed tears. 

'Mac?' She was unused to this side of him. A guileless vulnerability. So open to her, even after her outburst. Those awful things she had said to him, she wouldn't blame him if his bag was packed and he'd been halfway back to Goodneighbor by now.

'All those things I tell you when we're alone. I mean them. I don't just say I love you for laughs you know. If I say them enough times maybe, you'll believe them. Heck, maybe even reciprocate them.'

'I do, Mac, I do,' Nora was contrite, subdued.

'Then why do you always push against me? Why? You still don't trust me do you? I don't know what else to do.' MacCready raised his hands in supplication. His face pleading. 

When the tears finally came they came in an unladylike snorting stream. Nora gulped and sniffed, eyes reddened and wiping her nose with an old rag for want of a tissue. MacCready left the refuge of the chair and made a foray to the bed. Nora buried her head in her hands. Her shoulders heaved with the effort of discharging all those tears. 

Gingerly MacCready reached an outstretched hand to Nora's shoulder. Scared of unleashing the biting sarcasm and rage again, but they seemed to have subsided. He pulled her hair from its band, and ran his hands through it gently. Toying with it. Lifting it. Breathing in the smell of it as he brought his lips to the back of her neck. Gently. Still in fear of rejection. His lips soft on the nape. Her tears subsiding, he continued to nuzzle into her neck, as much for his sanity as hers. Better this than talking. Less dangerous, less room to misinterpret, to twist, to hurt. 

Dare he? He placed his arms around Nora's shoulders. Pulling her close, her face still unseen. She was still wearing her coat. He desperately wanted to remove it, to feel her warmth against his. He didn't dare to push, the road ahead littered with mines so he carried on holding Nora tight to him. The rough fabric of her coat meshed with his beard. 

Nora relaxed in to him, 'I, urgh, Mac, don't stop but I got to take my coat off. It's way too hot in here'

Thank God. He unwrapped his arms. The coat fell to the floor as Nora removed it. The Institute coat. She won't wear that anymore. He encased her in his arms, the soft knitted fabric of Nora's pullover soft against his face as he leaned against her shoulder. 

'Be kind to me Mac.' A whisper, a strange request. He knew it for what it was; an apology, an acknowledgement. 

MacCready rested his head against Nora's shoulder a while longer, at peace, restful. He was seized by an impulse. An idea. He asked Nora to step outside and lead her to a bench just outside the hut. They sat down side-by-side. Nora looked askance at MacCready 'You better have a good reason for dragging me out here in the cold like this!'

'Shhh... Just look at the stars. Look.' Nora looked upwards. Yes, there were stars. So what? She remained staring at them until MacCready stumblingly continued, 'I still wonder at them. All those years in a cave, I miss it of course, but since I've left I don't think I'll get tired of seeing those stars above my head. I know it sounds corny, but those stars are for you and me Nora. The Institute don't get to see this, they're stuck hiding underground. You and I need the stars Nora. We need to dream, live life free. Did you know I still think of our first night together when I look up at the stars? I was an idiot back then. A fucking idiot. God only knows what you saw in me. But here we are. You, me, the stars. The same. Different. As long as the stars shine down on us we'll remember those nights.' 

Nora nodded a silent acknowledgement to MacCready's words. She gazed up at the stars. He was right, this life in all its flawed terribleness had beauty and freedom those in the Institute would never experience. MacCready continued, his voice low and melodic. Words that would have been music to Nora's ears a lifetime ago. Before Shaun and the Institute had poisoned the well.

'Not only did you get the cure for Duncan you did it for me thinking I was leaving you. That makes you pretty amazing in my book. I'm the luckiest person alive to have you by my side. Don't you ever ask me again if I love you. All you have to do is look upwards. One day you, me and Duncan. We'll all look up at these stars together. I know we will. '

Nora nodded again in acknowledgement at MacCready's words, but the shadow cast by Shaun was long and proof against words of love. Nothing would ever be ok again. Feelings beyond her power to articulate. The best she could manage was one feeble question, 'But what about.... ?'

'Shhh we're worry about that tomorrow.' 

Nora pushed Shaun's shadow aside, a Herculean effort, only made possible by the physical proximity of her lover and the strength she borrowed from him.

He shuffled as close to her as the bench would allow. His arm snaked around her waist. 

Her heart sang. Once again. A kiss. A tender kiss. More passionate. Her arms around his neck. Clinging. For dear life. His increased heartbeat resonating through her body. Her ears pounding with the force of her pulse increasing to keep pace with his. As his kisses made that seismic shift from tender to passionate. Those words those unforgivable words of hers. He was purging them from her mouth from his ears by the warmth of his kiss, the gentleness had hinted at the expulsion but the passion now flamed the words into ashes on her tongue. She tasted momentary bitterness and then the taste was replaced with sweet love. Her world just this heartbeat, the kiss and the sky above them. She wanted no more than this perfect kiss, this perfect moment. Yet MacCready wanted more. His soft groan vibrated through her mouth. MacCready always wanted more than she could give. She'll break herself giving herself to him and do it all again gladly. For the feel of his cock inside her she'd betray the Institute and Shaun repeatedly. In this moment she is sure of it.

She longs to just stay like this, to prolong the kiss. Prolong the otherworldliness of being under the stars like this. The hum of the Mr Handys down the hill in their gardens, their thruster rockets glowing in the dark. Still the kiss continues. She feels the need in MacCready, the inevitability of the next step. His hands start to insinuate themselves under the soft woollen fabric of her jumper. Reluctantly she breaks the kiss. 

'Please Mac, just kiss me, that's all, that's all' she traps his hands under the jumper. manoeuvres them until he withdraws them and wraps them around her neck once more.

With a soft sigh, she dots gentle kisses around his face, his eyes, his forehead, his neck. More and more, this will banish the poison of her earlier harsh words, banish them into the night. 

MacCready sighed, allowed himself to be cajoled, caressed. His earlier need subsided and he relaxed into the soft timbre of Nora's kisses. His heartbeat slowed, his passion subdued. When Nora's lips met his, it was a butterfly wing, a thing soft and delicate. To be wondered at. Nora had been right to prolong this moment, this calm before the storm. This reaffirmation. He mumbled endearments into her lips, his lips vibrating softly against hers, his voice low and resonant.

MacCready's mumbled words made Nora's stomach lurch, a strange sick excitement and stirring, her body starting to respond, to take over where her romantic ideals finished. Despite herself she felt her heart start to beat faster, to catch and to betray her. 

MacCready felt the change, the almost imperceptible change, a feeling deep within his groin, his body responding to hers. Their kiss becoming more passionate. His tongue softly penetrating her lips, lingering over them, teasing them. Nora groaned as his tongue touched hers for the briefest of moments. Her lips pushed against his, more forceful, her tongue starting to duel with his, a tussle for ascendancy. His hands could contain themselves no longer. They crept under her jumper again, and this time encountered no resistance. Instead Nora echoed his movement, her hands cool against his bare skin as they lifted his t-shirt. She lifted it over his head, tossed the tatty old garment down on the floor. If it was cold then he didn't notice. His breathing was ragged now as Nora unfastened his trousers, guided them from his hips. Maybe he should stop her, stop this. His last coherent thought as Nora's mouth found his cock, and kissed and smoothed down his shaft. His fingers carded in her hair and he sat back rigidly on the uncomfortable bench as her tongue swirled around the head of his cock, a series of groans ripped through the night air before MacCready realised he was the culprit. And Nora continued to moisten and lick the length of his shaft before taking the head into her warm velvety mouth and pulsing her tongue down his length, the warm moistness and pressure in contrast to the cool night air and Nora's hands tightly braced on his thighs. She released his cock from her mouth, it bobbed in the night air, the cool wetness overwhelmed him for a moment before her hand grasped the shaft and started to softly pump, whilst she nuzzled and nipped the sensitive skin of his inner thigh. 

'Oh God, oh Nora...,' she looked up at him, her eyes large and her pupils huge and dilated in the near darkness. 

'Mac, I'm sorry, I love you, I, oh God, I just want to make you cum so bad, I need to...'

'Hey, don't let me stop you....' MacCready still couldn't stop his automatic sarcastic response, although the final word rose to a squeal as Nora took the length of his cock deep within her mouth and worked her way along, her lips and tongue sending waves of pressure and sensation. Her head started to bob up and down in front of his eyes as the exquisite feelings radiating from his groin threatened to engulf him. 

Nora felt MacCready's thighs tense and stiffen, as she knew they would as her tempo increased. He was close now. She could taste the pre-cum oozing from him, and her own arousal was threatening to overwhelm her. Her own breathing almost as stiff and ragged as MacCready's as she concentrated on his pleasure, although her own pussy felt uncomfortably engorged with arousal. Oh God, she'd gone from wanting purely romantic kisses to butting against her own hand with every in and out of MacCready's cock in her mouth. Like some randy alley cat. She focused, removed her hand and instead grasped MacCready's thigh to give her some sort of purchase, her mouth working so diligently up and down his shaft now she was scared that she'd release him from her mouth if she didn't concentrate fully. A split second. MacCready's breath caught, then he groaned her name as his cum spurted into her mouth. She felt the jerking motion of his hips as he rained into her mouth, again and again. As his hips returned she moved, swallowing the cum in one quick gulp, over and done with. Sliding up his body to hold his now fluid form tight against her, feel his breath quick and soft in her ear, and her name on his tongue.

Shamelessly she butted her pussy against his knee, oh God she was wound up as tight as a spring. The taste of his cum still on her lips, his encouraging words whispered softly in her ear. She bucked and rubbed against his knee, through her clothes, so aroused she could feel the moisture flooding her but still enclosed within her panties. A shock ran through her as MacCready's hand dived under her waistband, probing. An exclamation about how wet she was whispered in her ear. Hardly a surprise to her. She pushed MacCready's hand down onto herself, locking onto it through the fabric of her trousers. Begging him, needing stimulation, needing release. His fingers flitted over her clit, and she shivered and sighed. Still it wasn't enough. Her hand pressed down on his, guiding, demanding. A loud moan as his fingers throbbed and thrummed, the pressure and pace bringing her to the brink of release, and then a slight change in tempo, his finger making circles on her clit, increasing in speed her hand no longer needed to guide she pulled herself tight against his body. Her body shook with tremors as her orgasm ripped through her, his fingers stilled as she placed a hand over his and pressed down. He sighed as she sank into his arms, tension leaving her body. 

She stayed like that for a few moments, until her ragged breath reached an even flow. MacCready held her against him, she was soft and yielding in his arms. Maybe she was asleep, she was at peace but it was cold out here and it would soon start to become uncomfortable if they lingered any longer. He gathered her up in his arms and carried her the thankfully short distance into the hut. She stirred and sighed as he placed her gently down onto the bed. Awake now, she discarded the remains of her outer garments and tucked herself under the meagre blankets. MacCready joined her, holding her in his arms. 

He sighed softly into her neck as she curled and nestled into him. As he heard her soft snores he pondered her earlier harsh words. Of course, heat of the moment to explain it all away. But as ever there is truth in the arguments our nearest and dearest. They have the capacity to kill us with a word, a skill that would be the envy of our worst enemy. MacCready slept fitfully, his head full of self-recrimination and thoughts of Duncan. And his burden to carry. What if Nora was right?


	2. Sunlight is the Best Antiseptic

The bodies of dead synths and Coursers littered the land surrounding the Castle. A few had breached the battlements, though it hadn't gained them anything. Their fate was the same as their compadres. Nora, MacCready and the gathered throngs of Minutemen were celebrating their easy victory. The Castle defenders were all in agreement; if this was the worst the Institute could throw at them then final victory was assured.

MacCready's take on the matter ran thus 'Shaun sends a few Coursers to the Castle and we're all supposed to shit ourselves?' He sat on the ramparts, a cigarette between his lips. Taking a reflective drag he fanned the smoke from his mouth and inhaled it back through his nostrils. A little flourish that Nora hated but tolerated because it showed he was in a good mood. 'You've seen one Courser you've seen them all.'

Ronnie Shaw's harsh laugh rang out. 'That's the attitude. We made short work of them didn't we?' She was effulgent, aglow with joy at the victory her beloved Minutemen had achieved. For some reason Ronnie had taken a shine to MacCready, she slapped him on the back with such force he almost took a tumble from the wall he was precariously perched on.

Nora pondered on Shaun's tactics, or rather the lamentable lack of them. After all the agonising about how and when to act Shaun had decided for them. He was the first to break cover in their stand off and he had attacked the Castle, well not personally, he had sent the synths to do his dirty work as usual. He had obviously intended that the symbolism of the Institute vanquishing the Minutemen's greatest fortress would invoke a fear that would resonate throughout the whole Commonwealth. Shaun was a master of smoke and mirrors. His big mistake was to come into the light and start an outright war. The Institute's reputation was founded on fear of the unknown. The kidnap in the night, the replacement of a beloved family member with a synth, spies lurking around every corner, subterfuge and things that go bump in the night. Bringing his fight so openly to the Commonwealth was foolish. Coursers were more used to covert solo operations. As an attacking army they were untried and disorganised. Against a trained team of dedicated Minutemen they were completely out of their depth. Such was the ease of victory, the Institute had lost its enigmatic status, and appeared stripped of its mystique, just another threat, ranking about even with raiders and supermutants. 

Nora was almost disappointed in Shaun's lack of Machiavellian cunning. The image of his shadow over the Commonwealth a bewitching and seductive one, it made him invincible, made it futile to even try, and this was probably exactly how Shaun wished the people of the Commonwealth to regard the Institute. It turned out Shaun was fucking deluded. So used to having the upper hand he had slipped up and made a monumental error. Underestimated the enemy and now he must be quaking in his underground stronghold because he had nothing left to bring to the party. Ironic that he should attack the Castle, with all the associations that the name brought with it. The battle against the Institute had now turned into unglamorous old-fashioned siege warfare, and the ones under siege were the Institute. They had in all senses of the word dug a hole for themselves. They were trapped underground like rats, with the Minutemen dominating the surface. The surface which held all the resources. 

Nora and the Minutemen knew all the Institute's weak points, the espionage she had conducted put to good use. The water tunnel, that was their Achilles' Heel, the crucial factor that could break them. Once Sturges has cracked the code needed to get through the one remaining barrier there wouldn't be a damn thing Shaun could do about it. He just had to sit tight in his stronghold and hope that it would all blow over, because whatever he was trying to achieve at the Castle has backfired spectacularly.

******************************************

The party at the Castle continued into the night. Nora and MacCready sat with the rest of the happy throng but the drunken revelry was starting to wear a little thin, for Nora at least. She had been in radio communication with Sturges that afternoon and he had told her he'd finally cracked the code. That last piece in the puzzle, the major flaw in the Institute security. There could be no more excuses. Not now the chink in their armour, the water intake, could be breached merely by swimming to it, loading a holotape and entering a code. MacCready was less than thrilled at the prospect of irradiated aquatic antics but if that's what it would take to move things onwards then so be it. 

They had decided to set out to breach the tunnel at first light. In the meantime he had to tread carefully. Nora was on a knife edge. Between joy at the victory and dread at moving forward to the next step. The destruction of the Institute no longer a dream, but threatening to become reality with every precious second that passed.

'We could just let them be...' Nora had already made this suggestion at least ten times to MacCready. She was resigned to the next stage, but that didn't mean she was reconciled to it.

'Oh for goodness sake, Nora,' MacCready laughed, he knew from Nora's tone that she was going through the motions. Moaning just for the diversion, her heart wasn't in it. Knowing what had to be done, but not wanting to swallow that bitter pill. If he was honest with himself he wasn't madly keen on infiltrating the Institute either but they'd faced worse than this together, and no doubt would again. It was necessary, just another job. 

'So, I guess we'll leave from here tomorrow and just get on with it?' Nora questioned MacCready, even though they had already agreed on the plan of action. 

'You know we will... ' MacCready sighed. This evening was going to drag intolerably if all they were going to do to occupy themselves was indulge in bouts of verbal parrying. Sensibly they should be having an early night, resting for the trials ahead. Fat chance. 

He had visions of being up until the early hours placating Nora, listening to her worries and being the supportive partner and boyfriend. This was worse than actually infiltrating the Institute. Of course, he gave no indication of his distaste to Nora. He had to keep reminding himself that Shaun was Nora's son. Would he have been able to do this to Duncan if it had been him in Nora's place? When put into that context he very much doubted it and he gained the strength to support Nora's dithering and whining.

Nora was watching MacCready's thoughts flicker across his face. She could see he was steeling himself for a rough ride, and the stoic expression on his face made her laugh out loud, the tension within her broken. She knew he'd buckled himself in for a night of being a sympathetic ear. Well, not tonight. She'd had a small amount of alcohol, but was otherwise clear headed. The decisions had all been made. She wasn't keen but was so far down the road of guerrilla warfare against the Institute she just wanted it to be over with. To move on. Shaun was dead to her when she betrayed him at Graygarden homestead. Inside she felt numb. Managed to push down any maternal feelings she felt towards Shaun and reason them away. It was all too bizarre, too unbelievable. That elderly master manipulator was not her son. _Her son_ had died with Nate in the Vault. Shaun was a stranger, an evil psychopath that had turned her out into this Wasteland for an experiment. She'd thought him more than he ever was, ever could be. She'd thought he was unbeatable, but he was as human as every other person that walked the earth, or in his case crawled under it. Fuck him. He was a dead man walking. The only two people that mattered now were her and MacCready. Everyone else could go fuck themselves as far as she was concerned.

'What are you laughing at?' MacCready was slightly disturbed by Nora's cackle. Was she really cracking under the pressure this time? Let's face it, it had always been on the cards. 

'Your face....' 

'What's wrong with it?'

'Nothing, it's perfect.' Nora scooted over beside MacCready and cupped his face in her hands kissing him on the nose, 'Perfect.'

MacCready rumpled his nose. Maybe Nora had drunk more than he thought she had. She unnerved him when she was overly affectionate in public. Still she continued to cup his face. He gulped, suggested that they go to bed. Nora made a wicked grin in his direction. Like a snake responding to a pungi felt his cock twitch involuntarily. Oh for fuck's sake, he really wasn't in the mood. He almost wished for the whinging Nora back. _Almost_. 

Nora made goo-goo eyes at the prominent bulge forming in MacCready's trousers. 'Well, well, well, what have we here?' MacCready shuffled nervously. He really should not be getting so turned on in this _situation_. They had a busy day tomorrow. Had to be up at dawn to head into Boston and penetrate those damn tunnels. It was as if Nora read his mind.

'How about some tunnel penetration practice...?' She grinned wickedly at him.

MacCready didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Nora was such a loser when she was drunk, but goddamn the way she was taking his hand and his finger into her mouth and sucking down on it was doing exactly what she had calculated it would. There was no mistaking his erection now, pressing hard on the fabric, uncomfortably. 

'How about we go inside...?' Nora pulled him by the hand, towards the bedroom.

Nora giggled as she started shedding her clothes, MacCready made shushing gestures with his hands to little effect. Oh well, what did he care if everyone heard him shag the General? It wasn't like it was a state secret that they were together. He was a little worried that they might think that she wasn't taking her mission seriously. But as Nora herself had pointed out on previous occasions, any of them were welcome to take her place if they thought they could do a better job. So far, she'd had no takers.

'Mac, come and sit down' Nora patted the mattress in invitation. 

'Your wish is my command'

Nora was in maudlin mood, she gathered MacCready into her arms, musing, 'You know I loved you from almost the first minute I saw you....'

This was not news to MacCready. The one thing he had never understood was the _why_. His ego wasn't fragile by any means but he was all too aware of his own shortcomings under his veneer of bravado. Seeing Nora so voluble and in vino veritas and all that he decided to probe further. 

'What the hell did you see in a starving desperate merc like me?'

Nora might have been in confessional mood but she wasn't taking the bait of such a shameless fish for compliments. 'Fuck knows... '. Nora smirked at MacCready, 'Maybe I'm just a sucker for a big mouth and a pair of dirty hands, and how does the saying go? ...Dirty deeds done dirt cheap'

The dirty hands jibe MacCready could take on the chin (it was true after all) , but _cheap_ , now that really hit him where it hurt. Right in the wallet. He adopted an expression of mock hurt. 'Ooh come on now you were desperate for me. You still are.... It's written all over your face!'

'Hmmm, maybe but you're not immune yourself Mr Tent-groin. Now get those trousers off already. '

What the hell was Nora _on_ tonight? And more importantly was there any left for him? MacCready attempted to focus but he didn't feel like being sensible. Within eight hours they were going to be diving through irradiated water into the belly of the beast. It wasn't beyond the realms of possibility that this was their last night on Earth. Might as well make it a memorable one. 

Not forgetting Nora's previous command MacCready discarded his trousers along with his boots. Nora watched appreciatively from the bed. Clad now in t shirt and briefs he leapt back onto the bed and started to remove Nora's remaining garments. The lilting music from Minutemen radio wafted in on the breeze along with the sounds of laughter. Nora listened, serious for a moment. 'All those people out there. Depending on us. Not even questioning whether we can do it or not. I try not to think about it'. She shrugged, 'but sometimes...'

MacCready pulled down Nora's bra strap and softly kissed and nuzzled her shoulder. . 'It's you and me, that's all. The same way it's always been. Just another day. I got your back, you got mine and to hell with the rest of the world.' The slight tremor of her hands as they caressed him gave her away. Her erratic behaviour that evening, the penny drops. He realised why she was acting so strangely. Fear.

MacCready felt rage starting to bite. He looked at Nora. Now he'd seen it he was mad at himself for not seeing it before. _These fucking people. These Commonwealth scum._ In that moment he wished with all his heart they had escaped to the Capital Wasteland. He was filled with an urge so strong to silence the revellers with his rifle that his hand was on its reassuring heft before he even knew what he was doing. Those cowardly fuckers out there. It took a green-as-cabbage-water Vault dweller and a Capital Wasteland Gunners deserter to be their salvation. Every man-jack of the revellers out there had more experience than Nora yet they unashamedly leant on her. And him. 

Were they thankful for it? No, of course they fucking weren't. At least they acknowledged Nora, raining down accolades and responsibilities on her she neither sought nor expected. Meantime he was stood at the back, treated like Nora's gopher. Nora tried, oh she tried to get these ... wankers ...to accept them as a pair, a team. They couldn't or wouldn't acknowledge MacCready. He didn't give a shit personally, made it easier to walk away and leave them to rot. But he knew it upset Nora, she'd told them often enough. But they did it anyway. And here they were again. - a pair of mugs risking their lives for these Commonwealth assholes. 

'Fuck 'em' 

MacCready didn't realise he'd said the words aloud until he heard Nora's reply. 'That's right the Institute deserve all they get...'

'I wasn't talking about the Institute....' 

Nora gave an adorable questioning look in his direction. The protective urges rose strongly in him again. He swept his arm as if to encompass the whole Commonwealth in that one gesture. 

'Them...' MacCready swept his arm again for emphasis. 'Them...'

'Mac you make no sense...'

'Listen Nora, they don't care about you. You don't have to do this.'

'But... but' 

'Bottom line Nora. The only one in this Castle that really knows you, cares for _you_ and not about what you can do for them is me. Let them have their little celebration. But tell me this, you see anyone volunteer to do this thing tomorrow? No, once again it's dumb and dumber doing it all. What the hell do we owe these people? Jack shit. If you want to skip all this, go back to Sanctuary Hills, or go to the Capital Wasteland we'll go now. Anyone tries to challenge or stop us it will be the last thing they ever do...' 

'Oh god MacCready...' (he noted the use of his full name not sure if it was a good sign or a very bad one) 'I don't know. Stop tempting me. We're so close now. To go backwards would be worse, surely?'

'Backwards? Forwards? This isn't a fucking sequential fairy-tale. We're not all going to live happily ever after anytime soon. But let's make it easier on ourselves for once in our lives. Let's do what's best for _us_.'

'We will Mac, we will, once this is over with I swear it, it'll be just you and me. We'll go to the Capital Wasteland fetch Duncan and bring him back here. Settle down. But for once in my life I have to see something through to the end. Shaun is my mess and it's on my shoulders to get this whole shit fest cleaned up.'

MacCready hadn't really expected Nora to step down. His heart sang with joy at the _after_ part. Settling down. The three of them together. A family. It was too much to hope for, more than he deserved. He would cling to this second chance with both hands. Clasp Nora and Duncan close and never let them go. 

Tomorrow, they would go through with it, do what needed to be done, he knew they would. Nora wouldn't be able to get any closure until she'd dealt with Shaun. After that though, well that would be a different matter if he had anything to do with it. This was the last time he was going to allow anyone to take advantage of him or Nora.

'Cap for your thoughts...' Nora asked as she snuggled into MacCready's bare shoulder. Funny, he didn't even remember his T-shirt coming off, but unless he was a magician it must have been removed at some point. It didn't matter now. Nothing really mattered now. Nora's hair tickled his shoulder as she planted meltingly warm kisses along his collar bone. 

He felt her breasts move against his back, and shut his eyes, leaned back into the embrace. Soft kisses continued to rain down on his hairline. 'You'd want your money back...' he traced the line of her thigh with his finger.

'Money back?' Nora's lips vibrated against his neck. She'd obviously forgotten her earlier offer.

'Never mind...' his hand continued to glide up and down Nora's thighs, feather light and gentle. Tiny goosebumps rose on her skin as her flesh tingled under his touch. He turned himself around, his head tilting in for a kiss. 

The soft warmth of Nora's familiar lips against his, her strange mood evident even in her kisses made MacCready gentler than usual. Softer. Unusually sentimental. He'd been hired to protect her and that's what he would do and would continue to do. If that made him unpopular, too bad. _For God's sake,RJ, she treated you like a knight errant right from the get-go, and now she's got you acting like one. And let's face it, you didn't have much popularity to lose._ Maybe it was her belief in him that had moulded him into this romantic mess he had become. Giving little speeches about stars, talking about love as unembarrassed and naturally as a toddler addresses the world.

And another kiss, and another, and another, leading slowly, none of their usual heated urgency. Nora sighed and swooned in his arms almost catatonic. The party continued in the courtyard. MacCready had no concept of how much time had passed, but the laughter and the music still wafted in on the night breeze. Maybe it would be wise to sleep now they were relaxed, somnolent. He had never been accused of being a wise man.

As sleepy as he was, he didn't want this night to end, the kisses, even that annoying violin music. This woman next to him on the bed, sighing into his kisses, his name on her lips. The hope and love in his heart threatening to leave his body in emasculating tears. His hands idly smoothed and skimmed the velvety skin on her hips, she was so limpid and relaxed. Beautiful in the soft light filtering in from the courtyard. Her manic mood now dissolved and washed away by his gentle kisses. 

She had given her heart and body to MacCready but had she ever truly given him her trust before now? She wasn't sleeping, was on the cusp, between consciousness and a waking dream. His caressing hands so soft and gentle, with none of their usual devouring urgency. His earlier rant trickling through her brain, the cells processing them like a trickle of water through porous rock. He was for her, and she was for him. This was it now. No more prevarication, no more what-might-have-beens. Tomorrow would be their day. A day to pass into legend, to echo down the years to stretch and elaborate to myth long after the two main protagonists had left the stage. 

It was their deeds they would be remembered by. Not this, their personal journey into each other's souls. The feel of his hand on her skin, his kiss on her neck. This was what she'd hold to and cherish forever, the other deeds irrelevant. The whispered endearments in the night, the long languid mornings in bed and their love. She realised that after tomorrow there would be nothing else in the Commonwealth she wanted or needed. If everything went to hell in a handcart tomorrow she'd still won.

He was right there, held in the palm of her hand the way she'd never held a human soul so close to her own before. Despite her best efforts at self-sabotage he was still in her corner. She feathered her fingers along his side. His ribs prominent under his skin. His concave stomach unyielding, the muscles were bumps under her skimming fingers. The soft downy hair leading downwards where his cock was starting to stir again as her fingers twined and smoothed the springy hair. 'Nora...' Her name a soft sigh from his lips. Her mouth felt dry and she reached for a drink of water. A small moan of protest from MacCready as her hand lifted from his groin. She sipped the water, slowly. Not sure if she was teasing him or herself by stretching the act of drinking the water slowly from seconds to minutes.

MacCready had been surrendering to sleep before Nora's caresses had roused him. He propped himself up on one elbow, as Nora drank her water. This night seemed destined to last forever. He was fully awake, Nora taking an age with that water. _Good that she was keeping hydrated, she'd need to be, the way he was feeling he was going to fuck her until she was a quivering wreck_. So, given his track record that would take about 5 minutes then. A small self-mocking laugh and he sat up, wrapped his arms around Nora even as the glass was still tipped to her lips and her throat bobbing as she swallowed. The noise of the glass on the nightstand as she placed it down jarred with him. His arms tightened more possessively around Nora and he tilted his head to kiss her. Her lips moved to meet his, her mouth still cool and fresh with the water, his lips hot and demanding. His kiss pressing, thirst for something other than water now consuming him, her teeth grazed his lower lip as she responded, her hands clawed his back as he became clumsy and erratic with need. That damn music. It registered as a minor irritation, an irrelevance on the edge of his consciousness but the rush of his pounding blood filled his ears and threatened to drown out the music as her kisses fired his blood. He pushed Nora down into the pillow, where she lay looking up at him with eyes clouded with lust, her lips imploring him not to stop. No chance. 

She pawed at him, attempting to manoeuvre him into position. Her legs opening to accommodate him, as he knelt between her legs she raised them and locked them around him, shivering with need as his cock slid into her core. As his body covered hers, her legs relaxed and released him. With long slow strokes he moved lazily, his mouth on hers, sighing with each thrust. 

Nora shut her eyes, her focus on the sensation and feel of him as he dipped and rose. Long groans of pleasure as he grazed against the sweet spot in her core and a shuddering sigh as he filled her. Slowly, tenderly, whispered endearments passing between them and they were joined and as one together. 

MacCready shut his eyes, his ears listening to the music which was now a welcome distraction as the pooling heat in his groin demanded harder! Faster! No. Not yet. When Nora begged, when Nora bucked into him then he would let go. Now the slow rhythm and her warm mouth against his were what they both needed. His mumbled words of love like a prayer and his name on her lips the 'amen'.

Nora felt loved that night as she never had before. MacCready's earlier words, his tenderness. Her heart fit to burst and the sensations filling her as they made love were more intensely charged with emotion than she had ever felt. If this moment could last for ever, if... But the need in her was growing now with each thrust. She needed more. Her hips bucked and her voice entreated MacCready demanding, faster, harder ... 

Nora's pleas sounded in MacCready's ears as a clarion call. He gave in to his instincts, gave her what she begged so enticingly for. Her guttural moaning warming his self-esteem, his eyes scanning her face in the semi darkness. Her hair fanning over the pillow tangled and ragged from her movements, lips parted, a gleam where the dappled light played on her skin. Her hips bouncing off the mattress to meet his with the satisfying slap of flesh on flesh. He wondered what karma he'd cashed to get so lucky. The adulation in her eyes as she opened them to fix on his face as her walls clenched and rippled around in his cock was such that he felt fraudulent for the very briefest of moments. Hard to feel anything at that moment other than her pussy tighten round his cock as he thrust and found his own blissful relief. 

He lay limpid and spent on Nora's chest for a moment, their chests rising and falling as they recovered. 'We'll be fine tomorrow, Mac, ' Nora spoke.

'I know,' MacCready only spoke the obvious, feeling a strange kind of comfort in the idea that part of him would still be in this woman he loved tomorrow. Protected from the inside and the outside by his love. _Meh_ he chided himself, _what a fucking ridiculous and disgusting notion_. It still gave him comfort as he held Nora close and slept.

 


	3. The End

When the final battle in the Institute came nothing was difficult. The action flowed as if on rails once the back up support had teleported in. Minutemen fought. Nora and MacCready battled their way through legions of synths. No time for dithering, reflexes controlling action. Working together as ever. Protecting each other. Instinctive, normal. Unbeatable. Time seemed to slow to a snail's pace. 

Nora felt this was all she had done for her whole life. Flashing bolts of laser light, scything down synths, legions and legions of them. Unstoppable. Yet this couldn't carry on forever. Shoot, reload, move forward, repeat. It could almost be deemed tedious if it hadn't been life and death. Wave after wave of optimistic machinery. All meeting the same fate. Electronics flashing and beeping in pieces on the floor. 

The Gen 3 synths were a trickier proposition. Their humanity an impediment to rational repetition at first. Disturbing, guilt inducing, blood and guts instead of machinery. It got easier. It always got easier. Shoot, fire, load repeat. Avoid getting hit. A grenade here, a mine there. Soon the Gen-3s were as faceless as the Gen-2s. Zero guilt. Getting the job done. 

All things come to an end, even the most tedious and bloody of days must finish one way or another. And here it was. Inevitability. The final showdown. Nora had hoped to avoid ever seeing Shaun again, yet had always known that it would come to this. The three of them, points of an isosceles triangle. Shaun, the apex, distant from Nora and MacCready forming the base. It had come as no surprise when Sturges had told her that the command for opening the reactor room had to come from the Director's terminal. Well, of course it did. 

Nora had looked around for anyone else willing to put themselves forward for the task, anyone but her and MacCready. No one had stepped forward. No one had offered to relieve her of the burden. Well, of course they hadn't. 

She had walked unwillingly to Shaun's quarters. She entered with MacCready, hoping, praying that Shaun wouldn't be there. That they could do what needed to be done, do it quickly and go. Shaun was lying there, waiting like a spider in a shiny white web. 

Nora wanted to ignore him, just concentrate on using the terminal and getting the hell out of Dodge. Shaun would not be ignored. His commanding voice rang out, still strong and strident though his body was weak and confined to its sick bed. Once she'd done what needed to be done on the computer, issuing the evacuation order and opening the reactor room, she gathered all her strength and turned to face him. She was glad of MacCready's supportive arm as she felt herself growing weaker with every word Shaun said. 

Shaun carried on speaking, though she was barely listening. His face, with its likeness to Nate's features, made her stumble over her resolve to see this through. A feeling of yearning passed over her. She felt a huge sense of loss, of missing Nate. Missing something she had never had. A perfect family with perfect husband and son. Picnics in the park, long drives in the car and home for an evening curled up on the sofa in front of the TV while the baby slept. Intrusive emotions filled her, memories of Nate that had long since dimmed now brought back into sharp focus. She felt an all-consuming desire to just give up, lie on the floor and die in the Institute beside Shaun. As she continued staring at Shaun the years seemed to drop away from him, and instead of Shaun lying there, it was Nate.

What did she have now? A mercenary lover 10 years younger and always just out of her reach. She'd always grasp to understand him and vice versa. The 200 years between them was a huge chasm that threatened to engulf them. They would always have to work to bridge their differences. Whoever said 'love conquers all' was a fool and a naive one at that. Shaun was right. She belonged here with him. Go down with this ship. MacCready deserved better than an out-of-date defrosted TV dinner. She turned to MacCready, though looking him in the face almost killed her, he deserved better. The internal voice assured her again. He was young enough to start again, move on. He was a Wasteland survivor. He'd be fine. 

'I'm staying here Mac.' she whispered. Kissed MacCready on the cheek, not wanting to commit to anything more intimate, she was unsure enough of herself without complicating matters further. 'It's over...you need to go now.'

MacCready looked at Nora, he knew this was going to be difficult for her but now she was being ridiculous. The time for preposterous melodramatics was long gone. If she wanted to save Shaun then fine, they'd find a way to get him out but to stay here with him and be blown up? _Oh please._ She was bluffing. She hadn't lasted this long in the Wasteland without the will to survive being deeply ingrained in her. If this was a way of assuaging her guilt he didn't buy it. Tough shit. She'd thank him for this later. 'Nora, you'll leaving this place even if I have to carry you out. And we can bring him too...' he jerked his thumb at the old man. He didn't even want to face Shaun but if saving him was what Nora wanted to do then he'd just have to suck it up, grit his teeth and get on with it. 

Shaun sat up in his bed, his cold bony hand reached out and grasped Nora's. 'Don't go Mother, you can logon now, reverse everything, it's not too late to change your mind, you, me and Macbeth, we can all work together in the little time I have left'

Nora looked at Shaun incredulously, 'Macbeth? Do you mean MacCready?'

Shaun clicked his tongue, 'Macbeth, MacDonald, MacCready, whatever that foul little wasteland specimen you're so attached to is called... .'

'I don't believe you Shaun, that _foul little wasteland specimen_ was prepared to save you. This man you so casually dismissed is the only reason I survived the Wasteland at all after you set me loose as a _little experiment_. Well, you can rot in hell as far as I'm concerned. Goodbye'. A pause. She turned to MacCready, - 'Kill him.' 

'What?'

'I point. You shoot. I believe that was the arrangement? Well I'm fucking pointing right now!' Nora glared at MacCready. 

MacCready glared back. A murderous look to match the requested action. 'I'm not doing your dirty work for you. Just leave him. He's dead already once this building goes up.' Macready mimed a bomb detonation, complete with hand movement and noises. 

'MacCready stop fucking about. Just do it.' 

And with that Nora turned on her heel and left Shaun to his fate. MacCready made an apologetic shrug to Shaun before coldly, professionally, aiming his rifle and pulling the trigger. Nora winced as she heard the shot. She didn't turn. Professional duties fulfilled MacCready trotted off after Nora. 

*******************************************

'I don't want to talk about it'. Nora did her best to project icy indifference. Not for MacCready's benefit, but the gathered Minutemen and Sturges in the teleportation chamber didn't need to see her breakdown. She was pretty sure of that. As they were about to enter the chamber MacCready gently took Nora's arm, whispered in her ear

'Don't worry, we're together. I love you. Everything will be fine. Not long now, not long and we can be alone together. Forget all this ever happened. Cry, shout, scream. But until then stay cool. Go in there and give these damn people what they want....' 

Nora took a deep breath. Steeled herself and entered the chamber. Sturges turned to her, and she registered synth Shaun standing shyly behind him. In all the drama she'd forgotten his very existence. He stepped forward. Called her 'Mom'. What was going on now? She'd thought herself home and dry, but no, Shaun was the gift that kept giving, tearing her apart one painful emotion at time. Sturges was making hurrying gestures. 

Nora was dumb, stupefied with delayed shock. Too much. Too much to bear. She'd just made her partner execute her son. Now this .... synth impostor was bringing her to breaking point again. MacCready stepped in. Saved her ass like he always did. 'Sure Shaun, you can come with us... And your Mom. She's just a bit... Upset right now'. MacCready gave Shaun a conspiratorial grin. 'Don't worry, we'll make sure she's ok once we're out of here. '

He took the boy by the hand and lead him into the teleportation chamber all the while chattering about inconsequential nonsense, putting young Shaun at his ease. with Nora following, mute and shell shocked. 

Shaun was taken back to the Castle by Sturges and some of the Minutemen, making MacCready promise to visit as soon as he could. MacCready readily agreed. 

******************  
A small group gathered at the top of Mass Fusion building. The detonator button glowed red in the warm afternoon light. This tiny device the focal point for the whole group. 'Just press the button whenever you're ready, General.' 

MacCready observed Preston's eagerness with irritation. _Saint Preston_. From what MacCready could see Preston was all but frothing at the mouth at this scenario... The Institute blown to smithereens by the General. His own hands left unspotted. MacCready's mouth twisted in distaste, projecting all these negative thoughts on to Preston Garvey gave him the courage to bear this moment. Whether or not this was truly Preston's inner dialogue was irrelevant right now. 

Preston spoke. 'You did evacuate the building didn't you General?'

MacCready sighed, exasperated by what he perceived as Garvey salving his conscience at Nora's expense. An arse covering exercise. It was too late now anyway. What was Preston going to do if Nora said, no, she hadn't bothered with the evacuation, go back and retrieve the civilians himself? MacCready very much doubted it. It was just another passive aggressive dig at him and Nora. MacCready was sick of it. He glared at Preston. 

Preston was immune to 'The MacCready Death Stare'. It was far from a novelty. He turned to Nora , touching her arm gently to rouse her to action. 'General?'

'Sorry Preston, this is one thing I won't do. It's down to you this time, my friend. I resign as General of the Minutemen. As of now. Please accept promotion.' Nora nodded at Preston, who was in shock, 'This is your call. I'm just a civilian now. I know you'll do the right thing. Goodbye my friend.' 

Preston was clearly unhappy with this shocking turn of events, but Nora was in no mood to be talked round, or persuaded not to quit. Not this time. She embraced Preston. The affection she felt for the new General was real. She held him in the greatest of esteem. He was a better person than she'd ever be and it was time now for him to shine, step out from her shadow. 'Goodbye my friends and thank you... For everything'. She wiped tears from her eyes as she acknowledged the small cluster of loyal Minutemen. 

'C'mon Mac, General Garvey's got this. Let's go.. ' MacCready put his arm around her. Loyal MacCready, her love, her light, her everything, the only thing Nora wanted to take away from this nightmare. They didn't need her anymore. She'd earned a quiet life. She wanted to get to know the little boy that called her 'Mom', wanted to bring Duncan back to MacCready to complete their family and to live in peace.

'Are you sure?' MacCready didn't really need to ask, but for form's sake he did. He wanted Preston et al to know this was Nora's decision. No pressure from him. He was not going to be the scapegoat in this. 

'Yes, I'm sure.' Nora looked at the assembled company defiantly. Just daring anybody to try and stop her. Nobody did. They knew she was a lost cause.

Nora and MacCready left, making their way out of the Mass Fusion building. As they descended in the lift MacCready wrapped his arms around Nora 'I love you...'

'Same....'

It seemed an interminable length of time until they got to ground floor and finally exited Mass Fusion, blinking in the daylight. Their eyes were still readjusting when it happened. A huge bang, a whiteout of light, then darkness and dust. Preston had made his first move as the new General, he had detonated the reactor and closed down the Institute forever. MacCready and Nora hugged close, burying their faces in each other's shoulders to protect from the glare and the noise. They stayed hugging close until the noise and dust subsided. 

'So what now?' A delicious feeling of lightness filled Nora's heart. She was free. Her burdens lifted and a new life to start. From now on, for better or worse, their fate would be in their own hands. 

'Who cares!' MacCready laughed. 'Just ... be'

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> **Any comments/kudos gratefully received***  
> My tumblr is : [thebanquosghost](http://thebanquosghost.tumblr.com/tagged/fanfic)  
> Thanks to everyone who has read any of the stories in this series. This is the last story following the story line of the game. The next and final story will be an epilogue to complete the series.


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